MURRYSVILLE (KDKA) — For one Franklin Regional High School student, this Friday night will be more than just a football game, it’s an opportunity to realize just how lucky he was during that tragic morning at the school last spring.

It was April 9 around 7 a.m. It seemed like a typical Wednesday morning for Nate Moore, but that all changed in a matter of moments.

“I closed my locker and was walking to the cafeteria, and out of nowhere he just came up from behind some kid and didn’t even see it coming,” said Nate, the Franklin Regional junior.

Moore was the second student attacked that morning.

“He got someone in front of me, and there was a girl in between me and him, and he reached around the girl and got me,” Nate says.

The Franklin Regional football player remembers the day like it was yesterday. It was right before classes started; the hallways were filled with students.

Then, all of a sudden, Nate was slashed on his right cheek. He was trying to break up what he thought was a fight, but it wasn’t. And it didn’t take him long to realize it was much more than that.

“It felt like he hit me in the face with something; I didn’t know what it was,” Nate said. “It didn’t hurt at all, and I felt my face, and saw blood on my hands.”

Now, Nate has a scare on his face to remind him every day of that early morning in April.

“Makes me feel like I had a second chance; couple inches higher, I could have lost my eye,” said Nate.

A couple inches higher, he wouldn’t be able to play football again, something that he loves.

“It’s like an opportunity almost, like I have this chance to keep playing,” he said. “I’m just so happy.”

But Nate’s story gets better. This Friday night against Knoch High School, he will get a chance to run out on the field as a starter for the very first time.

“The first time just playing under the lights in front of all the fans, in front of this great community. It’s going to be amazing,” Nate adds.

It’ll be an emotional night, as well as an opportunity to move on. Nate plans to take advantage of his life changing experience, on and off the field.

“You never know what’s going to happen, so live life to the fullest,” he says.